Rusted Skies focuses on a fleet of three airships (dreadnaughts, really) that drift from city-state to city-state in an Earth whose oceans flooded and raised 1 mile 600 years ago. These three ships are collectively referred to as ‘The Wise Men,’ the trade ship, storing food and other goods “Horn O’ Plenty;” the luxury cruise liner and residential ship “Ark II;” and its guardian combat ship “Sleipnir.” The Wise Men is populated by the Skyborn, the descendants of each ships’ original crew- positions are hereditary, though with the advocacy of a Skyborn one can move onto the fleet. Threatening The Wise Men (and similar fleets’) trade efforts are the marauding sky pirates that plague the skies, the giant insects that have made these hostile skies their homes, the ever-stormy skies, and the sea monsters awaiting anything unfortunate enough to drift too close to the ocean.
Governance
Gov’t Presence 2
The captains of each of The Wise Men each rule over their own ships as kings and queens. They have absolute control of the ship and the people on it. Despite this seemingly despotic arrangement they don’t have much more wealth than the average skyborn; their wealth residing in the knowledge and skills necessary to helm the floating behemoths.
Between the “Ark II”, “Sleipnir” and “Horn O’ Plenty” the three captains work together in all of their best interests to chart the most optimal trading paths for The Wise Men to take. All ships serve a purpose and work together as a unit. Income is generated from the Ark II, a luxury liner transporting travelers in it’s hull in between trading stops. Food is produced and stored aboard the ship-turned greenhouse, Horn O’ Plenty. And the combat ship Sleipnir protects the fleet.
Council is held between the three captains over radio, the frequency of which changes from meeting to meeting to maintain privacy. Tradition holds that a Captain never leave his Dreadnaught, and face-to-face communication between captains is extremely rare. This dependence on radio communication draws the captain close as a unit, and allows an abstraction of the captain's voice to be not one of themselves, but of the ship.
Rule of Law 5
It’s almost impossible to get away with crime on board any of The Wise Men. Those who are found guilty of committing a crime (most common being stealing of food or extra rations) are publicly flogged or shamed. For the more egregious crimes against other skyborn, such as murder or rape the guilty will be executed, and their body given to the dirt aboard the ‘Horn O’ Plenty’ as is customary for Skyborn burial. This means of recycling helps the Horn O’ Plenty’s soil fertility efforts, and even if it’s not the most noble way to go, perhaps some solace can be taken knowing your decaying body is helping grow a potato.
While crime is relatively low across The Wise Men, the majority of public disputes and misdemeanors happen on the “Ark II”, the residential ship. This is par for the course, as living quarters are tighter than one may prefer. It is incredibly important to keep a feeling of safety in the passenger quarters at all times, misdemeanors and incidents can cause unrest among any nervous customers, which is bad for business. It’s not uncommon for any fracas onboard to be suppressed or hushed as quickly as possible.
Aboard the ‘Sleipnir’ Skyborn tend to be more disciplined, and refer to each other by ranks used by the old world navy. They follow naval law, and break with the Skyborn tradition of burial in farmland by burial at sky. Many other skyborn consider this wasteful, but military tradition heading back centuries is impossible to break.
Social Services 4
Surprisingly enough, social services aboard The Wise Men are in good state. Your neighbours and and fellow shipmates are more than willing to watch your children while you work. The ships themselves are more like extended families than they are any kind city, village or society. The tribal nature has led to an education wrought by apprenticeship. When Skyborn children turn 7, they will often have taken an interest in a job around the ship. On their 7th birthday, they are taken up by masters of the job and taught by them until they are certain of themselves enough to do it on their own. This method of training makes for efficient turnover and ensure the passing of both knowledge and traditions.
In order to prevent wasted space, a child’s grandparents are heavily involved in child rearing. Children are given a minor degree of freedom to wander through unrestricted areas with minimal supervision, but are expected to know how to keep out from under foot. It’s with this trust that the child should show inclination to a certain type of trade come the age of apprenticeship.
The quartermasters of each ship ensure that all individuals living on the ship receive food and board- luxuries are nearly unheard-of amongst the Skyborn, as they work to continue to earn their place on the fleet. All the finer goods are reserved for travelers abroad Ark II. Health care is broadly available with infirmaries on ever ship, however on different ships different occupations may receive higher priority care.
Cultural Influences
Military 3
Aboard the Sleipnir, military influences culture in a way that only 500~ years of steeping in military tradition can. Military ranks still widely used aboard the Sleipnir, residents of The Wise Men see the dreadnaught, as the protector and guiding light. With the Sleipnir’s guns loaded and ever vigilant, and newer sustainable defensive weapons being developed below on the machining decks, there has never been a safer time in The Wise Men.
The uniforms aboard the Sleipnir haven’t changed much in in past generations, subtly decorative pins and hats signify rank and position on a background of gray pressed linen. Uniforms also exist for the farmers of the Horn O’ Plenty, and the residential staff off the Ark II.
On the other ships, manning the guns isn’t a career path; it’s an assumed duty that all able-bodied Skyborn attend to when the siren sounds. While the Sleipnir gunners are ever vigilant, the turrets and battle stations aboard the Horn O’ Plenty and Ark II are vacant until the alarm is sounded.
The fleet of three maintains a default formation, a triangle shape, with the Horn O’ Plenty trailing the Ark II, with the Sleipnir flanking from the side. This allows the militarized Sleipnir to shift to either side of the formation.
When the great floods happening and communities took to the skies, unification of resources and individuals were stressed as the saving grace at the cost of certain freedoms. This form of authority caused insurgency in certain communities, leading to the proliferation of sky pirates. Smaller units of one or more ships, these high-flying rebels tail larger flying communities, raiding cargo ships and hounding Skyborn.
Religion 1
Most people are too busy trying to survive the dangers of the world and life aboard a Dreadnaught to consider anything like organized religion. And with the abundance of mechanical knowledge and understanding people tend to believe that all things have root causes that they can find with enough effort and tinkering.
This isn’t necessarily true of the Earthborn, who occasionally trifle with Religion, Superstition and talk of Magic. To the Skyborn, life has a purpose and that purpose is to fly wherever the wind and their captain take them; to bring food and furs to the people below and to feel the wind in their hair.
An extremist prescription of this philosophy can be found in sky pirates, as the free spirited souls have diehard love for the sky. This adrenaline fueled lifestyle can sometimes be fantasized by teenagers during their stints in apprenticeship.
Technology 4
The Skyborn are dependant upon the technology surrounding them for survival. The recycling of air, the lights, the propulsion and storm measuring instruments are all necessary for day-to-day life. Jobs among the Skyborn, beyond military positions on the Sleipnir, revolve nearly exclusively around the technology they live in.
The ships themselves are carefully maintained. With hundreds of years of technology and materials keeping The Wise Men above water, preservation of these machines is held at a very high priority.
The Horn O’ Plenty is a farming and storage vessel- every inch that’s covered in sunlight has crops growing on it, feeding the fleet as a whole. Beyond residential quarters, most of the rest of the Horn O’ Plenty is used for the storage of trade goods such as furs and clothes, which the Wise Men use to acquire goods and services from Earthborn traders. Due to the lack of space to use for ammo storage, the Horn O’ Plenty has minimal guns mounted on the bottom of the ship, with a pair of electrified harpoons.
The Sleipnir has a far wider range of weapons mounted upon most of its surfaces, along with an assortment of lookout points. A robust, color-coded alarm system lines the walls throughout the Sleipnir, and most of its bottom deck is used for weapons research.
The Ark II is almost entirely residential, used as a luxury transport for merchants in some areas and affordable transit for commoners in others. Special care has been taken to ensure excellence in care. Guns are mounted on the sides and bottom of the Ark II, but they are minimally manned and it doesn’t carry much in the way of ammo.
Communication between these great vessels relies solely on short-wave radio, a tried and true method that hasn’t changed much in the years after the great flood. While relatively reliable, electricity storms can interfere with transmission, which have lead to communication issues between the three ships when transmissions were most crucial.
Alas, many of the new generations use the same technology as their ancestors, as innovation comes slower these days. With no means of intense technological development within the past five generations, most modern technology used aboard the Wise Men today doesn’t stray far from the original mechanisms used long ago. Enhancements gathered from trade are augmented into older machinery.
Arts & Culture 2
The need for every able hand, and the fact that nearly every Skyborn makes up the crew for every ship among The Wise Men, mean that among the Skyborn there is little time for such frivolities as art.
Each dreadnaught has developed its own distinct culture, however. The Skyborn of the Sleipnir have embraced a military hierarchy into their day-to-day life- they are always on duty, and one’s rank has become nearly as synonymous with an individual as one’s name. Skyborn on the Horn O’ Plenty have adopted a mercenary and mercantile attitude- hustling each other for better deals and jockeying for internal positions within the crew’s hierarchy. On the Ark II, the people have accepted a slightly ruder, snobbish attitude- they have a lower regard for the ‘uncouth’ Skyborn who reside on the other dreadnaughts and pride themselves in the refined, relaxing atmosphere they promote amongst their guests.
Economics
Economic Strength 1 +/-
Due to collapse of the global economy and lack of long-distance two-way communication (three-ten mile radius at best), the global economy has collapsed. Services are purchased with food, pelts, and favors, rather than currency. The Skyborn serve in the ships, and are compensated with a place to sleep that’s warm and dry, and regular food to eat- better than what many have.
The Wise Men’s primary source of outside goods and any food is its regular contact with Earthborn traders among the remaining land-bound human settlements that it drifts between. Earthborn farmers very rarely purchase travel on the “Ark II”, but will often visit the “Horn O’ Plenty” whenever it is landbound, in order to trade excess food for luxury goods.
Wealth Distribution 2
The Ark II is the most decadent of the three ships. Travelers; Earthborn with the supplies and riches necessary to purchase travel aboard The Wise Men reside upon the many apartments aboard the Ark II. These decadent Earthborn are looked upon with some small level of distrust and curiosity. How is it that these people can keep with them so many things? Wouldn’t owning that many things just weigh them down?
While one might be quick to assume that a captain aboard any one of the ships would save large portions of the Wise Men’s supplies for their own consumption, they would be wrong. That duty falls mainly upon the Quartermasters of each ship. The Quartermastery, like the Captainship is a hereditary position. The Quartermaster has full access and responsibility to all that is contained deep within the holds of each Dreadnaught. As a result, the Quartermasters tend to have the best clothes, the most interesting of Earthborn delicacies to eat and all sorts of odds and ends secreted about their person.
The grumblings about this inequity is tempered by the knowledge that having a Quartermaster who acts and thinks like an Earthborn means that they are better at dealing with such avaricious people.
Agriculture/Trade 3
The food grown aboard the “Horn O’ Plenty” is nearly enough to feed the other two Dreadnoughts. The vegetables farmed from the semi-fertile soil are bland and tasteless, but can be seasoned with some of the spices traded from the Earthborn.
Water collection is also primarily done aboard the Horn O’ Plenty, with condensers protruding from the highest point of the ship. These machines get put to work when The Wise Men travel through clouds, gathering the moist atmosphere and feeding into the fleets water storage, which is located at the base of the Horn O’ Plenty.
Soil is incredibly valuable in the eyes of Skyborn, with a flooded earth covering much of the world’s farmland, good soil and organics became incredibly hard to find. Apart from trade, the bounty from the Horn O’ Plenty is what gives The Wise Men their ability to flourish independent from the Earthborn below.
Aboard the ships of The Wise Men, trade between citizens is encouraged as a way to keep the Skyborn from becoming too reliant on the excesses of the world below.
Social Relations
Race 3 +/-
The Skyborn of The Wise Men have very little respect for the Earthborn of the world below. While the Skyborn have an economy that partially revolves around the Earthborn using ships for transportation as means of providing goods and services, the fact that the Earthborn whom they most often interact with either own or rent more space than what they need and frequently partake in luxury items mean that, to the average Skyborn, the Earthborn reek of excess.
The Skyborn of the “Ark II” have the easiest time interacting with the Earthborn, though that is because of exposure moreso than anything else- they have earthborn using their ship for transit as a day-to-day occurance and so exposure is common.
When an Earthborn is accepted into the crew of a Wise Men ship, there is often an adjustment period- the lack of real material possessions that characterizes life among the Wise Men, due to the lack of space, often causes an adjustment period and will often breed resentment among the new Skyborn.
Class 3
In general the disparities between the workers of The Wise Men are few and far between. But on the whole, Skyborn have a deep respect for any job that involves hard labor or technical know-how and cunning; but hold a slight resentment for any job that is menial easy and time wasting. Despite their necessity, the gunners aboard the Sleipnir are often jokingly referred to as ‘cloud spotters’ among other epithets simply due to the fact that when there isn’t anything to shoot at their presence above decks is seen as shirking the hard work hidden below.
The leisurely and scholarly work of the Quartermastery is occasionally considered the easiest job aboard the ship by the young or uninitiated but many older Skyborn are quick to point out that the Quartermasters keep track of every single person and item on each Dreadnought. Every wrench, rivet and grain of rice are counted and tracked to maintain stores enough to survive every voyage.
While physical jobs are prized, custodians and mechanics are especially revered as keeping their Dreadnoughts in working order. They are the lifeblood of The Wise Men and are responsible for continued service of each Dreadnought. After all, dirty and wet floors rust and rusty floors break.
Farmers aboard the Horn O’ Plenty are proud of their work, and it takes a special variety of stubborn to reap a harvest of vegetables a few thousand meters in the air, in parched soil.
Aboard the armed Dreadnought Sleipnir, gunnery is seen as the most flashy job. There are few children of Sleipnir who don’t dream of being in charge of the massive batteries of cannons that bristle from the main and bottom decks. A prestigious job, but one predicated upon the backs of all the loaders and mechanics who make sure that the guns of the Sleipnir never fall silent when they are needed most. Least understood, are those who specialize in research and development in the lower rear decks of the Sleipnir. The R&D folks are misunderstood by the skyborn who believe that the wells of ammunition below decks will never run dry. Their successes are evident in the dynamo harpoons that have been mounted on Sleipnir and the Ark II to fend off smaller attackers.
Gender 4 +/-
There is no room aboard The Wise Men for discrimination based upon one’s gender. Skyborn men and women work the same jobs, eat the same food and live the same lives. All will work and pull together or all will plummet from the skies together. This fact of life is understood by all Skyborn, but can prove jarring to the Earthborn who are used to the structures of the societies on the world below.
Despite the inherent equality in living rough lives alongside each other there are still a handful of chauvinists who believe that the continued existence of skyborn necessitates the protection of skyborn women for the purpose of ‘preserving the skyborn’. These people are shouted down and ignored. To presume that a skyborn of any gender cannot fend for themselves or provide for the Dreadnought itself aside from their body is a grievous insult. In cases where the insult is not retracted the person at fault may find themselves shunned by the rest of the Dreadnought.
Sexual 5
Resources aboard The Wise Men are scarce, limited by what can be carried among the ships and obtained as payment from the Earthborn. Space, too, is finite- most families live in three-generational regions, with children, parents, and grandparents all living in close proximity and rarely moving away or switching dreadnaughts.
Therefore, as a general rule, families require permission from their dreadnaught’s captain to have children- unplanned children are signs of poor preparation and will often result in the stigmatization of the family for producing a leech on resources. In a contrast, when a dreadnaught’s captain wants more children on the ship, all Skyborn of appropriate age are expected to contribute.
As a result of these views, Skyborn law fully recognizes homosexual marriage- in some ways, prefers it, even- so homosexual couples have generous adoption rights and when a growth initiative gets instated by the captain, as well as easy facilitation for artificial insemination.
While none of the Skyborn necessarily like these requirements, they understand the necessity of maintaining a stable population on the Wise Men, so comply with little fuss. Homosexual Earthborn, however, find these initiatives violating, and rarely live among the Wise Men.
4T
Rusting Skies
Rusted Skies focuses on a fleet of three airships (dreadnaughts, really) that drift from city-state to city-state in an Earth whose oceans flooded and raised 1 mile 600 years ago. These three ships are collectively referred to as ‘The Wise Men,’ the trade ship, storing food and other goods “Horn O’ Plenty;” the luxury cruise liner and residential ship “Ark II;” and its guardian combat ship “Sleipnir.” The Wise Men is populated by the Skyborn, the descendants of each ships’ original crew- positions are hereditary, though with the advocacy of a Skyborn one can move onto the fleet.
Threatening The Wise Men (and similar fleets’) trade efforts are the marauding sky pirates that plague the skies, the giant insects that have made these hostile skies their homes, the ever-stormy skies, and the sea monsters awaiting anything unfortunate enough to drift too close to the ocean.
Governance
Gov’t Presence 2
The captains of each of The Wise Men each rule over their own ships as kings and queens. They have absolute control of the ship and the people on it. Despite this seemingly despotic arrangement they don’t have much more wealth than the average skyborn; their wealth residing in the knowledge and skills necessary to helm the floating behemoths.Between the “Ark II”, “Sleipnir” and “Horn O’ Plenty” the three captains work together in all of their best interests to chart the most optimal trading paths for The Wise Men to take. All ships serve a purpose and work together as a unit. Income is generated from the Ark II, a luxury liner transporting travelers in it’s hull in between trading stops. Food is produced and stored aboard the ship-turned greenhouse, Horn O’ Plenty. And the combat ship Sleipnir protects the fleet.
Council is held between the three captains over radio, the frequency of which changes from meeting to meeting to maintain privacy. Tradition holds that a Captain never leave his Dreadnaught, and face-to-face communication between captains is extremely rare. This dependence on radio communication draws the captain close as a unit, and allows an abstraction of the captain's voice to be not one of themselves, but of the ship.
Rule of Law 5
It’s almost impossible to get away with crime on board any of The Wise Men. Those who are found guilty of committing a crime (most common being stealing of food or extra rations) are publicly flogged or shamed. For the more egregious crimes against other skyborn, such as murder or rape the guilty will be executed, and their body given to the dirt aboard the ‘Horn O’ Plenty’ as is customary for Skyborn burial. This means of recycling helps the Horn O’ Plenty’s soil fertility efforts, and even if it’s not the most noble way to go, perhaps some solace can be taken knowing your decaying body is helping grow a potato.While crime is relatively low across The Wise Men, the majority of public disputes and misdemeanors happen on the “Ark II”, the residential ship. This is par for the course, as living quarters are tighter than one may prefer. It is incredibly important to keep a feeling of safety in the passenger quarters at all times, misdemeanors and incidents can cause unrest among any nervous customers, which is bad for business. It’s not uncommon for any fracas onboard to be suppressed or hushed as quickly as possible.
Aboard the ‘Sleipnir’ Skyborn tend to be more disciplined, and refer to each other by ranks used by the old world navy. They follow naval law, and break with the Skyborn tradition of burial in farmland by burial at sky. Many other skyborn consider this wasteful, but military tradition heading back centuries is impossible to break.
Social Services 4
Surprisingly enough, social services aboard The Wise Men are in good state. Your neighbours and and fellow shipmates are more than willing to watch your children while you work. The ships themselves are more like extended families than they are any kind city, village or society.The tribal nature has led to an education wrought by apprenticeship. When Skyborn children turn 7, they will often have taken an interest in a job around the ship. On their 7th birthday, they are taken up by masters of the job and taught by them until they are certain of themselves enough to do it on their own. This method of training makes for efficient turnover and ensure the passing of both knowledge and traditions.
In order to prevent wasted space, a child’s grandparents are heavily involved in child rearing. Children are given a minor degree of freedom to wander through unrestricted areas with minimal supervision, but are expected to know how to keep out from under foot. It’s with this trust that the child should show inclination to a certain type of trade come the age of apprenticeship.
The quartermasters of each ship ensure that all individuals living on the ship receive food and board- luxuries are nearly unheard-of amongst the Skyborn, as they work to continue to earn their place on the fleet. All the finer goods are reserved for travelers abroad Ark II. Health care is broadly available with infirmaries on ever ship, however on different ships different occupations may receive higher priority care.
Cultural Influences
Military 3
Aboard the Sleipnir, military influences culture in a way that only 500~ years of steeping in military tradition can. Military ranks still widely used aboard the Sleipnir, residents of The Wise Men see the dreadnaught, as the protector and guiding light. With the Sleipnir’s guns loaded and ever vigilant, and newer sustainable defensive weapons being developed below on the machining decks, there has never been a safer time in The Wise Men.The uniforms aboard the Sleipnir haven’t changed much in in past generations, subtly decorative pins and hats signify rank and position on a background of gray pressed linen. Uniforms also exist for the farmers of the Horn O’ Plenty, and the residential staff off the Ark II.
On the other ships, manning the guns isn’t a career path; it’s an assumed duty that all able-bodied Skyborn attend to when the siren sounds. While the Sleipnir gunners are ever vigilant, the turrets and battle stations aboard the Horn O’ Plenty and Ark II are vacant until the alarm is sounded.
The fleet of three maintains a default formation, a triangle shape, with the Horn O’ Plenty trailing the Ark II, with the Sleipnir flanking from the side. This allows the militarized Sleipnir to shift to either side of the formation.
When the great floods happening and communities took to the skies, unification of resources and individuals were stressed as the saving grace at the cost of certain freedoms. This form of authority caused insurgency in certain communities, leading to the proliferation of sky pirates. Smaller units of one or more ships, these high-flying rebels tail larger flying communities, raiding cargo ships and hounding Skyborn.
Religion 1
Most people are too busy trying to survive the dangers of the world and life aboard a Dreadnaught to consider anything like organized religion. And with the abundance of mechanical knowledge and understanding people tend to believe that all things have root causes that they can find with enough effort and tinkering.This isn’t necessarily true of the Earthborn, who occasionally trifle with Religion, Superstition and talk of Magic. To the Skyborn, life has a purpose and that purpose is to fly wherever the wind and their captain take them; to bring food and furs to the people below and to feel the wind in their hair.
An extremist prescription of this philosophy can be found in sky pirates, as the free spirited souls have diehard love for the sky. This adrenaline fueled lifestyle can sometimes be fantasized by teenagers during their stints in apprenticeship.
Technology 4
The Skyborn are dependant upon the technology surrounding them for survival. The recycling of air, the lights, the propulsion and storm measuring instruments are all necessary for day-to-day life. Jobs among the Skyborn, beyond military positions on the Sleipnir, revolve nearly exclusively around the technology they live in.The ships themselves are carefully maintained. With hundreds of years of technology and materials keeping The Wise Men above water, preservation of these machines is held at a very high priority.
The Horn O’ Plenty is a farming and storage vessel- every inch that’s covered in sunlight has crops growing on it, feeding the fleet as a whole. Beyond residential quarters, most of the rest of the Horn O’ Plenty is used for the storage of trade goods such as furs and clothes, which the Wise Men use to acquire goods and services from Earthborn traders. Due to the lack of space to use for ammo storage, the Horn O’ Plenty has minimal guns mounted on the bottom of the ship, with a pair of electrified harpoons.
The Sleipnir has a far wider range of weapons mounted upon most of its surfaces, along with an assortment of lookout points. A robust, color-coded alarm system lines the walls throughout the Sleipnir, and most of its bottom deck is used for weapons research.
The Ark II is almost entirely residential, used as a luxury transport for merchants in some areas and affordable transit for commoners in others. Special care has been taken to ensure excellence in care. Guns are mounted on the sides and bottom of the Ark II, but they are minimally manned and it doesn’t carry much in the way of ammo.
Communication between these great vessels relies solely on short-wave radio, a tried and true method that hasn’t changed much in the years after the great flood. While relatively reliable, electricity storms can interfere with transmission, which have lead to communication issues between the three ships when transmissions were most crucial.
Alas, many of the new generations use the same technology as their ancestors, as innovation comes slower these days. With no means of intense technological development within the past five generations, most modern technology used aboard the Wise Men today doesn’t stray far from the original mechanisms used long ago. Enhancements gathered from trade are augmented into older machinery.
Arts & Culture 2
The need for every able hand, and the fact that nearly every Skyborn makes up the crew for every ship among The Wise Men, mean that among the Skyborn there is little time for such frivolities as art.Each dreadnaught has developed its own distinct culture, however. The Skyborn of the Sleipnir have embraced a military hierarchy into their day-to-day life- they are always on duty, and one’s rank has become nearly as synonymous with an individual as one’s name. Skyborn on the Horn O’ Plenty have adopted a mercenary and mercantile attitude- hustling each other for better deals and jockeying for internal positions within the crew’s hierarchy. On the Ark II, the people have accepted a slightly ruder, snobbish attitude- they have a lower regard for the ‘uncouth’ Skyborn who reside on the other dreadnaughts and pride themselves in the refined, relaxing atmosphere they promote amongst their guests.
Economics
Economic Strength 1 +/-
Due to collapse of the global economy and lack of long-distance two-way communication (three-ten mile radius at best), the global economy has collapsed. Services are purchased with food, pelts, and favors, rather than currency. The Skyborn serve in the ships, and are compensated with a place to sleep that’s warm and dry, and regular food to eat- better than what many have.The Wise Men’s primary source of outside goods and any food is its regular contact with Earthborn traders among the remaining land-bound human settlements that it drifts between. Earthborn farmers very rarely purchase travel on the “Ark II”, but will often visit the “Horn O’ Plenty” whenever it is landbound, in order to trade excess food for luxury goods.
Wealth Distribution 2
The Ark II is the most decadent of the three ships. Travelers; Earthborn with the supplies and riches necessary to purchase travel aboard The Wise Men reside upon the many apartments aboard the Ark II. These decadent Earthborn are looked upon with some small level of distrust and curiosity. How is it that these people can keep with them so many things? Wouldn’t owning that many things just weigh them down?While one might be quick to assume that a captain aboard any one of the ships would save large portions of the Wise Men’s supplies for their own consumption, they would be wrong. That duty falls mainly upon the Quartermasters of each ship. The Quartermastery, like the Captainship is a hereditary position. The Quartermaster has full access and responsibility to all that is contained deep within the holds of each Dreadnaught. As a result, the Quartermasters tend to have the best clothes, the most interesting of Earthborn delicacies to eat and all sorts of odds and ends secreted about their person.
The grumblings about this inequity is tempered by the knowledge that having a Quartermaster who acts and thinks like an Earthborn means that they are better at dealing with such avaricious people.
Agriculture/Trade 3
The food grown aboard the “Horn O’ Plenty” is nearly enough to feed the other two Dreadnoughts. The vegetables farmed from the semi-fertile soil are bland and tasteless, but can be seasoned with some of the spices traded from the Earthborn.Water collection is also primarily done aboard the Horn O’ Plenty, with condensers protruding from the highest point of the ship. These machines get put to work when The Wise Men travel through clouds, gathering the moist atmosphere and feeding into the fleets water storage, which is located at the base of the Horn O’ Plenty.
Soil is incredibly valuable in the eyes of Skyborn, with a flooded earth covering much of the world’s farmland, good soil and organics became incredibly hard to find. Apart from trade, the bounty from the Horn O’ Plenty is what gives The Wise Men their ability to flourish independent from the Earthborn below.
Aboard the ships of The Wise Men, trade between citizens is encouraged as a way to keep the Skyborn from becoming too reliant on the excesses of the world below.
Social Relations
Race 3 +/-
The Skyborn of The Wise Men have very little respect for the Earthborn of the world below. While the Skyborn have an economy that partially revolves around the Earthborn using ships for transportation as means of providing goods and services, the fact that the Earthborn whom they most often interact with either own or rent more space than what they need and frequently partake in luxury items mean that, to the average Skyborn, the Earthborn reek of excess.The Skyborn of the “Ark II” have the easiest time interacting with the Earthborn, though that is because of exposure moreso than anything else- they have earthborn using their ship for transit as a day-to-day occurance and so exposure is common.
When an Earthborn is accepted into the crew of a Wise Men ship, there is often an adjustment period- the lack of real material possessions that characterizes life among the Wise Men, due to the lack of space, often causes an adjustment period and will often breed resentment among the new Skyborn.
Class 3
In general the disparities between the workers of The Wise Men are few and far between. But on the whole, Skyborn have a deep respect for any job that involves hard labor or technical know-how and cunning; but hold a slight resentment for any job that is menial easy and time wasting. Despite their necessity, the gunners aboard the Sleipnir are often jokingly referred to as ‘cloud spotters’ among other epithets simply due to the fact that when there isn’t anything to shoot at their presence above decks is seen as shirking the hard work hidden below.The leisurely and scholarly work of the Quartermastery is occasionally considered the easiest job aboard the ship by the young or uninitiated but many older Skyborn are quick to point out that the Quartermasters keep track of every single person and item on each Dreadnought. Every wrench, rivet and grain of rice are counted and tracked to maintain stores enough to survive every voyage.
While physical jobs are prized, custodians and mechanics are especially revered as keeping their Dreadnoughts in working order. They are the lifeblood of The Wise Men and are responsible for continued service of each Dreadnought. After all, dirty and wet floors rust and rusty floors break.
Farmers aboard the Horn O’ Plenty are proud of their work, and it takes a special variety of stubborn to reap a harvest of vegetables a few thousand meters in the air, in parched soil.
Aboard the armed Dreadnought Sleipnir, gunnery is seen as the most flashy job. There are few children of Sleipnir who don’t dream of being in charge of the massive batteries of cannons that bristle from the main and bottom decks. A prestigious job, but one predicated upon the backs of all the loaders and mechanics who make sure that the guns of the Sleipnir never fall silent when they are needed most. Least understood, are those who specialize in research and development in the lower rear decks of the Sleipnir. The R&D folks are misunderstood by the skyborn who believe that the wells of ammunition below decks will never run dry. Their successes are evident in the dynamo harpoons that have been mounted on Sleipnir and the Ark II to fend off smaller attackers.
Gender 4 +/-
There is no room aboard The Wise Men for discrimination based upon one’s gender. Skyborn men and women work the same jobs, eat the same food and live the same lives. All will work and pull together or all will plummet from the skies together. This fact of life is understood by all Skyborn, but can prove jarring to the Earthborn who are used to the structures of the societies on the world below.Despite the inherent equality in living rough lives alongside each other there are still a handful of chauvinists who believe that the continued existence of skyborn necessitates the protection of skyborn women for the purpose of ‘preserving the skyborn’. These people are shouted down and ignored. To presume that a skyborn of any gender cannot fend for themselves or provide for the Dreadnought itself aside from their body is a grievous insult. In cases where the insult is not retracted the person at fault may find themselves shunned by the rest of the Dreadnought.
Sexual 5
Resources aboard The Wise Men are scarce, limited by what can be carried among the ships and obtained as payment from the Earthborn. Space, too, is finite- most families live in three-generational regions, with children, parents, and grandparents all living in close proximity and rarely moving away or switching dreadnaughts.Therefore, as a general rule, families require permission from their dreadnaught’s captain to have children- unplanned children are signs of poor preparation and will often result in the stigmatization of the family for producing a leech on resources. In a contrast, when a dreadnaught’s captain wants more children on the ship, all Skyborn of appropriate age are expected to contribute.
As a result of these views, Skyborn law fully recognizes homosexual marriage- in some ways, prefers it, even- so homosexual couples have generous adoption rights and when a growth initiative gets instated by the captain, as well as easy facilitation for artificial insemination.
While none of the Skyborn necessarily like these requirements, they understand the necessity of maintaining a stable population on the Wise Men, so comply with little fuss. Homosexual Earthborn, however, find these initiatives violating, and rarely live among the Wise Men.